


blue christmas

by maggiesbombshell



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Exes to Lovers, F/F, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Mutual Pining, catra is emo and gay, double trouble is the person we all need in our lives, yes they are exes in this fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-05
Updated: 2020-01-05
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:54:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22137403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maggiesbombshell/pseuds/maggiesbombshell
Summary: it’s christmas time and catra misses adora more than anything and she thinks adora doesn’t feel the same anymore. until they’re forced to spend the day together and she’s proven wrong.orthe one where catra and adora are oblivious exes.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 90





	blue christmas

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Doublepasse](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Doublepasse/gifts).



  
“ _decorations of red, on a green christmas tree. won’t be the the same dear, if you’re not here with me.”_

Christmas is Adora’s favorite holiday. And because of that, (not that she’d ever admit it) Catra misses her presence more than ever. 

So she’s resorted to listening to Blue Christmas by Michael Bublé on repeat while looking at old pictures of the two of them. 

(Catra tried to delete all of the pictures after they broke up but she just ended up restoring them from the recently deleted folder on her phone.) 

Catra sets her phone on top of the ottoman in front of the sofa she’s sitting on. 

She lies down and chips black nail polish off of her nails as she tries to drown out whatever her roommate, Scorpia, and her friend are talking about.

“She’s always sad this time of year. It’s Adora’s favorite holiday”, Scorpia tells Double Trouble. It’s loud enough for her to hear but she chooses to ignore it.

Suddenly Entrapta barges out of her own bedroom and enters the living room. “Are we talking about Catra being sad?” She pulls a small notebook out of her pocket and flips several pages back. “My calculations say that Catra was sad this time of year last year as well.”

Catra rolls her eyes and grits her teeth in attempt to prevent herself from screaming at her roommates for discussing her own thoughts and feelings while she’s literally in the room.

“Yeah that’s probably because they broke up last November.” Scorpia adds.

Double Trouble laughs lightly. “God she’s pathetic.”

“I can hear you, y’know.” Catra responds.

“Sorry Wildcat! Thought you were asleep. Double Trouble here just wanted to know why you’re down in the dumps.”

Catra sighs. “Yeah, well try and do that in your quiet voice, Scorpia.”

Entrapta looks around before going back into her room to do something she probably shouldn’t be doing in a rented apartment. Scorpia enters the room across from Entrapta’s, and Double Trouble follows.

Catra doesn’t pay any mind to the smirk on their face as she closes her eyes.

Adora closes and locks her front door as enters her apartment. She rests her head against the closed door and closes her eyes.

Tinder is the worst dating app ever created, she thinks. 

She hears movement from the living room area and opens one eye.

“So, how’d the date go?” Bow asks. He looks about ten times happier than Adora does and she’s the one that went on the date.

She takes off her jacket and sets her bag down before responding. Then she makes her way over to the couch and lets herself fall onto it. Adora pulls the drawstrings on her hoodie and groans. “It was terrible.”

She watches Glimmer who’s sitting in the chair across from her and Bow. Glimmer doesn’t pay her any mind and continues to scroll through whatever through her phone until a small smile appears on her face.

She makes eye contact with Adora and raises an eyebrow. “What, did the woman have nose hair or something?” She says teasingly. 

She notices Bow’s eyes look to her  
and then to Glimmer before the two of them burst into laughter.

Adora started using Tinder a few months ago after Bow suggested it. It felt like she’d been on nearly a million dates but not a single one worked. A few dates in Bow and Glimmer thought that she was being ridiculous since she was always making nonsensical excuses as to why she couldn’t go on a second one. 

One of the women she swiped right on had matte black nails on the date and as soon as she noticed them Adora left as fast as she possibly could. 

It wasn’t necessarily the person and their personality it just never felt right to her. She’d always thought that when people would say “It’s not you it’s me” it would just be an excuse to make the other person feel better but now she understands the term on a visceral level.

Adora sits up and presses her face into her hands. “I think I should just accept the fact that I’m literally gonna die alone.”

“Oh come on Adora don’t-“ Bow begins to say but Adora’s already headed towards her room. 

They share a look as she locks the door.

  
____________________________________

Catra wakes up the next morning and drags herself out of her room and towards the kitchen. She’s about to set up the coffee machine to make herself a cup before noticing that someone’s beat her to it.

Catra yawns and rubs her eyes. “Double Trouble? What are you doing here?” 

They take the mug from under the machine. “I let myself in. You and your roomies need a better key hiding spot by the way. Now, sit.” Double Trouble places the mug on a spot at the table.

Catra reluctantly sits and slowly sips the hot coffee. 

Double Trouble sits down in front of her and clasps their hands together. “I’m just gonna be honest with you Kitten.”

Catra massages and nods her temple to let them know that they can continue.

“You’re a hot mess and it’s really messing with my aura.”

Catra removes her hands from her head and stays silent for a moment. “Thanks.” She replies with sarcasm practically oozing from her voice.

Double Trouble claps and smiles at her. “But don’t worry, darling. I have an amazing surprise for you that’ll turn that frown upside down. Now go tidy up and meet me in the parking lot as soon as possible.”

Catra met Double Trouble at the beginning of the semester. Though she hasn’t known them for long they’ve been helpful to her Entrapta and Scorpia in many different ways. 

So it’s safe to say that she trust their judgement. Sort of.

  
“Adora, wake up!” Bow lightly taps her while standing on the side of her bed, Glimmer right beside him.

“I have an idea.” Glimmer jumps on top of Adora’s bed. “Adora! Wake up!”

Adora sits up and nearly pushes Glimmer off of the bed. “I’m up, I’m up!”

Glimmer gets up and stands on the other side of the bed. “So, Bow and I know how you’ve been upset over your dates not working out.”

“And how it’s been a year since you and Catra broke up.”

Adora frowns. She doesn’t like to talk about her and Catra’s break up very often.  
  
Bow grins. “So we planned a surprise for you!”

“You’re gonna love it.”

Bow and Glimmer pull the blanket off of Adora and each take one of her hands. Adora rolls her eyes but gets out of bed as they push her towards her closet.

“So put on something nice, but not too nice.” Glimmer adds.

Her friends leave the room as she stands there and stares at the clothes in her closet. She sighs and decides to deal with her morning breath first.

Adora think about Catra as she goes through her daily routine. 

She text dumped her last November. And yes she knows it’s kind of a shitty way to break up with somebody but she knew she wouldn’t be able to do it in person.

They’d reached a point where arguing became a daily occurrence. Neither of them were communicating properly and Adora didn’t understand Catra’s needs which lead to Catra turning down attempts of reconciliation. It was unhealthy for the both of them at that point.

She wishes she’d done certain things differently but she’s accepted the fact that she can’t go back and change it after the fact and she has to move on somehow.

Double Trouble’s surprise apparently included a large, open area of grass at an outdoor mall for unknown reasons. 

Catra could make out a familiar face not too far away that looked eerily similar to Adora’s but she ignored it. “Where’s your big surprise or whatever.”

“She’s right in front of you, Darling.” They twirl their car keys around their finger.

She was right about the woman being Adora. 

“See you at six!”

Catra checks the time on her phone and it’s hardly noon. She’s officially screwed.

Catra watches Adora’s college friends push her across the grassy space and run off giggling.

She runs her hand along the side of her forearm as her eyes practically burn holes into the ground. 

Adora walks up to her and stops when they’re several inches apart. Catra slowly lifts her head.

Adora scratches the back of her neck. Catra remembers she always did that when she was nervous. 

“You hungry?” She asks.

Catra bites her lip. “I could eat.”

  
They end up at a cafe across the street and haven’t spoke to each other much besides weak efforts at small talk.

Adora bounces her leg and taps her glass of water.

Catra looks out the window and taps her nails on the table.

Adora clears her throat, breaking the long period of silence. “Uh..how’s life?”

Catra coughs in attempt to clear her throat as well. “Good.” She waits a minute or two before asking her the same.

“Pretty good. Bow and Glimmer are doing good too. How are Scorpia and Entrapta?”

“They’re good.”

The both of them a quiet again and they eat their food in silence.

The waiter brings the bill and Adora reaches for her coat pocket. “I’ll pay.” 

Catra begins to disagree but Adora’s already put the money in the receipt booklet. 

As they head towards the front Catra tells her that she left something at the table. She didn’t.

She replaces Adora’s money with her own and shoves it in her pocket to give to her at the end of the day. 

She meets Adora outside of the cafe and they walk on opposite sides of the sidewalk. 

Catra checks her phone again. It’s one-thirty now and they’ve hardly spoken.

She sighs and stops in front of candle shop. Catra looks to Adora and heads in, knowing that she’ll follow since there’s no where else for her to go.

Catra still needs to get Scorpia a Christmas gift and a few scented candles would be great since she’s been putting them all over their apartment recently. Catra’s pretty sure that the variety of smells are ingrained in her nose somehow. 

Adora picks up a few candles and smells them. Catra asks for her opinion on a few as well.

She ends up buying two cherry blossom scented candles for Scorpia. Now she just has to remind her to keep them out of Entrapta’s reach so she doesn’t knock one over and set something on fire. Believe it or not that issue has occurred several times.

Catra slings the bag back and forth as the both of them exit the shop. She’s been wanting to say literally anything since they were in the cafe but it was like her mouth wouldn’t match up with her brain. “Look, if we’re gonna be stuck here for four more hours can we at least act like we’re still good friends?”

Adora kicks a pebble before tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and meeting Catra’s eyes. She gives her a small smile. “I’d like that.” 

Adora now walks right next to Catra instead of on the opposite end of the sidewalk.

Adora suggested that they go see puppies which Catra agrees to even though she hates dogs with every inch of her being. 

An employee leads them to an area with stall like sections and Adora takes a seat against the door and Catra sits directly in front of her. A few minutes later another employee brings out a small yorkie terrier and places her in Adora’s arms. She lightly scratches behind her ear with her index finger before looking up at Catra.

“God Catra I’m sorry! I totally forgot that you don’t like dogs. We can leave if you want.”

Maybe Catra does hate dogs but she can’t ignore the look of pure joy when Adora’s around them. She can put her feelings aside if it means Adora has a good time. “It’s fine. You can have your fun.”

Adora just smiles in return and continues to pet the small dog. 

Catra watches as one of the workers makes their way back to their area with a puppy in their hands. 

The lady reaches their stall and places a golden retriever inside and it immediately starts wagging it’a tail and happily panting.

The puppy walks over and sits on Catra’s lap as she sits completely still, kind of confused with the situation.

“She likes you!” Adora says.

Catra feels short and wet laps against her hand and looks down to find the puppy happily licking her.

“Pet her and rub her belly. She’ll love it.” 

She reluctantly begins to do what Adora told her and she wags her tail vigorously. Catra gently picks her up and she begins to lick her   
face and she laughs.

Adora joins in and manages to capture a few pictures.

  
They continue though the mall in a comfortable silence.

Adora points out a small game room outside the movie theatre entrance and smirks at Catra. 

“You’re on.” Catra says.

Catra pulls spare change out of her jean pocket and hands some to Adora. Adora pushes the coins in a slot for a racing game and sits down in the designated chair. Catra does the same.

Catra starts off in the lead with Adora right behind her. Adora presses her foot down on the fake pedal as hard as she can and Catra notices out of the corner of her eye.

Adora swiftly passes her. “Haha!” She says in response. 

The race is nearing an end and Catra’s still stuck behind her so she kicks Adora’s free foot with her own. She bites her lip to keep herself from laughing as Adora tries to quickly get back in the position she was on the seat.

Catra finishes in first and Adora stares at the screen in silence.

“Haha.” Catra smirks as she mocks the blonde’s tone she used a few minutes ago.

Adora doesn’t turn away from the screen. “You...cheater!” She finally turns around and shoves Catra out of the game chair.

Adora doubles over laughing, clutching her sides and Catra laughs so hard that her eyes start to tear up.

  
Next Adora drags her into a photo booth and Catra groans and rolls her eyes at the idea but follows Adora into the booth anyway.

Adora makes a bunch of stupid faces and does the same asking with giving Adora a pair of bunny ears behind her head. 

She puts her arm around Catra to take a few regular pictures of them smiling. Catra scoots over and leans closer to Adora. 

She looks at Adora for what was supposed to be a split second as she’s smiling. Her eyes travel from Adora’s big blue ones and the crinkles on the sides, to her nose and rosy cheeks from the cold and finally to her lips. Catra swallows hard.

She turns back to the flashing screen in front of them, her smile feeling forced as she tries to ignore the lump in her throat. 

Catra’s mind races. She remembers all the times she’d kissed Adora, all the times she cried in Adora’s arms and vice versa, and that no matter how rough things got between them their love for each other never lessened. 

Catra isn’t friends with Adora. She could never just be friends with Adora. She knows that things can’t just go back to how they were as children. Catra thought that she could act like that’s how things are though. To make things between them simpler. 

And damn is Adora good at acting since she has a new and better life without her. And since Catra doesn’t deserve her and never did.

The screen stops flashing and the string of pictures begin to print. It’d only been a few moments yet to Catra it felt like hours. 

She steps out of the booth while Adora grabs the pictures and follows.

“I’m gonna head to the bathroom, I’ll be back in a minute.” Catra says without making eye contact with Adora. She’s pretty sure Adora replied but she’s already heading in the other direction. 

She exits the building and furiously wipes at her eyes which are threatening to become literal water works at any second. 

Catra runs halfway across the entire mall to a department store. If Adora wanted to come and check on her it’d take while. At least she’d have some time to get her emotions in check.

  
Fifteen minutes after Catra leaves Adora texts her. (She never had the heart to delete her number.)

She ignores the previous messages from over a year ago and begins to type. Hopefully her number hadn’t changed.

adora: you okay?

  
She waits a few minutes for a response before going to the nearest bathroom in the building. 

A few people are in there and Adora tilts her head as she walks through to see if she recognizes Catra’s shoes. “Catra?”

She doesn’t see her shoes and there’s no response. 

She dials her number and exits the building and checks the outdoor bathrooms a few doors down. The phone rings for a bit before going to voicemail. She checks the outdoor stalls.

No Catra.

Adora calls her several more times and checks every single bathroom until she’s in front of the main department store across the mall.

She rubs her hand across the top of her head and sighs. Nearly forty-five minutes have passed and Adora’s starting to get worried. They don’t have a car so there’s no way she could’ve left unless...

Adora shakes the thought out of her head and silently prays that Catra’s in the store in front of her. 

She runs to the women’s area in the back, carefully dodging shoppers and children until she finally reaches the women’s restroom.

Adora takes a deep breath and enters the bathroom that’s empty besides one closed stall. 

“Catra?” Her voice echoes.

She hears a sniffle.

“Yeah?” The voice is hoarse but it’s definitely Catra’s.

Adora lets out a long sigh of relief. She approaches the closed stall. “Are you okay? I was worried.”

“I’m fine.”

“Then can you please explain to me why you ran off to a bathroom across the mall, and stayed there for an hour? All while ignoring my texts and calls?” Her worried tone shifts into a slightly annoyed one. After all she did have to run around the mall because of Catra’s antics.

Catra doesn’t respond and Adora frowns.

She enters the stall next to Catra’s. “Alright. I’m coming in.” She doesn’t hear anything from Catra so she gets down on all fours and ducks under the stall.

“I can’t believe you’re practically making me-“ Adora mumbles a complaint under her breath but stops when she looks at Catra.

Catra’s eye are bloodshot and puffy and she’s just staring at the door in front of her.

“Catra...”

Catra lets out a shaky breath and her lip begins to tremble. She breaks into another sob, her chest heaving as she continues on.

So much for getting her emotions in check, she thought.

Adora gets on one knee and places her hand on Catra’s knee. “Catra, what’s wrong?”

“Everything’s wrong! You’re just pretending to care about me and enjoy spending time with me. Everything’s gonna go back to the way it was once it’s six o’clock.” Catra manages to choke out.

“It was your idea to act like we’re still best friends.” Adora says softly. “I went along with it because I thought it would make things easier between us.”

Catra wipes her nose with her flannel sleeve. “Well it was a stupid idea. We could never be friends.”

Adora ignores the pang in her chest after Catra’s choice of words. She shakes her head and scoffs bitterly. “Y’know, when we were together I would always put in so much effort to make you feel better when you were upset. But nothing ever worked. And you never cooperated so it was exhausting.”

Catra’s shoulders tense.

Adora stops to think for a moment. “But I think, that maybe if you were ever willing to tell me what was going on I could’ve helped. And I just spent forever looking for you, worried sick, to find you crying in a bathroom across the mall. So, can you please tell me what’s wrong?”

“I’m sorry.” If Catra spoke even just a little quieter she’d be whispering.

“What?”

“I’m sorry I was so difficult back then, and that I’m being kind of difficult now. When everything went down and you dumped meI was so angry at you and how you just threw our relationship away and ruined it when in reality I ruined it. And I ran away because I felt like shit and I knew that I wasn’t gonna be able to keep up the act for much longer. And I’m sorry for not talking to you when we were together and taking forever to tell you this now. I’m just really bad at talking about this kind of stuff.” Catra rambles.

Catra shuts her eyes and wipes them again. Before she gets the chance to open them again she feels Adora wrap her arms around her and pull her into a hug.

Her arms shake as she returns the hug and she presses her face into Adora’s shoulder. “I thought you hated me.”

“I could never hate you. I’m not angry anymore either. And I don’t think I want to be angry. At this point I just miss you. All I wanted was to be with you again.”

Catra sniffles. “Really?”

“Yes really.” Adora chuckles. “I went on a date not too long ago and I immediately excused myself after I noticed that the woman had matte black nails.”

Catra had thing when the both of them were teenagers where she’d get her nails painted black or even do it herself but it had to be a regular shiny black color. She couldn’t stand matte nail polish. 

Adora now guesses that maybe the matte nails were a reminder that she wasn’t on a date with the person she truly wanted to be with. 

Catra laughs. “Matte nail polish still sucks.” Catra pulls away from the hug. “What now?”

Adora pulls her phone out of her back pocket. It’s five o’clock. “We still have an hour. Wanna go get ice cream?”

“I think you already know the answer to that.” 

Six o’clock finally comes and Glimmer, Bow, and Double Trouble are back in the grass space but  
next to a huge tree. 

Catra and Adora are heading their way and notice mistletoe hanging from an overgrown branch.

“Oh look, mistletoe!” Glimmer shouts with fake enthusiasm.

“I’m pretty sure that wasn’t there earlier.” Adora says.

“Oh well. You know what to do.” Double Trouble looks at them expectantly.

Adora fiddles with her fingers and her face heats up. “Uh, we don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

“It’s okay. Unless...you don’t want to either.”

“It’s okay.” Adora slowly walks closer to Catra and tucks a few strands of hair behind her ear. She places her hands on both sides of Catra’s face as Catra places her’s on Adora’s waist.

Adora studies Catra’s face. Her eyes are completely dilated and any sign of her crying was gone. Her eyelids flutter shut and she leans as Catra quickly follows suit.

Adora’s lips meet Catra’s and she figures out exactly why her Tinder dates weren’t working out. 

  
____________________________________

It’s New year’s eve and Catra’s at a party at Adora’s place. She’s lying on top of Adora who’s on the couch against the arm rest. 

Everyone’s scattered around the apartment’s main area.

Catra and Adora had a conversation that was long overdue the day after their mall meetup. They decided to take everything as slow as they needed to but they’re back together.

Catra call out to Double Trouble who’s at the table behind them. “Hey Double Trouble, how’d you come up with the idea to set us up anyway?”

“I caught you brooding in the passenger seat of my car last month while listening to Blue Christmas by Michael Bublé and scrolling through your camera roll.” Double trouble smirks and shakes their head. “I thought of that incident immediately after Scorpia told me about your bad break up and realized just how bad the situation was.”

“Aw, you thought of me while listening to sad Christmas music?” Adora teases her girlfriend.

Catra groans as her faces grows hot. “I didn’t know anyone was paying attention...”

“Don’t worry Catra, Adora’s one to talk since she once spent several days without changing out of one of your old hoodies.” Bow smiles as Adora shoots him a look.

“Aw, you kept my hoodie and wore it? That’s adorable.” 

“Shut up”, Adora replies playfully, leaning in to kiss her. 

She presses her mouth against Catra’s and Catra shifts without breaking the kiss to hold Adora’s face.

“Food’s ready!” Glimmer walks out with a platter to place on the living room’s coffee table but stops in her tracks when she looks at the couch. “Come on! Get a room!” 

Catra pulls away and smiles sarcastically at Glimmer as Adora full on blushes. 

The room’s filled with laughter while Glimmer looks grossed out but she eventually joins in too.

Catra thinks that she couldn’t possibly be any happier than she is right now.

“ _You'll be doin' alright, with your Christmas of white. And I'll have a blue, blue, blue, blue Christmas.”_

**Author's Note:**

> no one: me: *posts 2 christmas themed fics after christmas* anyways i hope you all enjoyed this!


End file.
